Weft needle operating mechanism for loom



Sept. 1, 1959 R. G TURNER 2,902,057

WEFT NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Filed Nov. 26, 1957 2Shets-Sheet 1 FIG. I

INVENTOR RICHARD G. TURNER I AR ATTORNEY Sept. 1, 1959 R. a. TURNER QWEFT NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Filed Nov. 26, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR RICHARD G. TURNER ATTORNEY United States PatentWEFT NEEDLE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR LOOM Richard G. Turner, Worcester,Mass, assignor to Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Worcester, Mass, acorporation of Massachusetts Application November 26, 1957, Serial No.698,996

12 Claims. (Cl. 139- 124) This invention relates to improvements inmechanisms for operating weft needles more particularly of narrow warelooms.

In high speed weft needle looms it is desirable to avoid intermittentmotions on the part of the actuating mechanism which would cause abruptstopping and starting of the Weft needle. With this thought in mind itis an important object of the present invention to provide a uniformlyrotating crank pin actuator to move a needle carrier backwardly andforwardly and also laterally and place part of the carrier under controlof means which gives the needle the desired motions into and out of theshed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide control means for thecarrier effective to give the needle an accelerated motion while it isin the warp shed and retarded motion while it is out of the shed toprovide suflicient time for the harness mechanism to change Warp shedsbetween successive insertions of the needle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a form of controlmeans including a link which rocks about a fixed pivot and has a pivotalconnection of a part of the aforesaid carrier.

It is another object of the invention to provide a form of control meansutilizing a slotted member to receive a roll on the carrier, the slotbeing adjustable angularly with respect to the length of the fabricbeing woven and also in a direction toward and from the fabric toproduce various desirable characteristics of needle motion.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a needle operatingmechanism which will produce both a back and forth motion of the needleas well as a transverse motion to insert the weft into Warp sheds and toconstruct the parts which produce these motions in such manner that theback and forth motion will be considerably less than the transversemotion so that as the needle actuating mechanism is adjusted to weavefabrics of varying widths requiring different transverse needle motionsthere will be considerably less variation in the back and forth motionof the needle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide actuating and controlmeans made in such manner as to facilitate removal of the needle carriershould the latter require repair or adjustment.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is madeto the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the fiveembodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the preferred form of the invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation looking in the direction of arrow2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed vertical section on line 33, Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view indicating the path traversed by the eyeof the needle as it moves into and out of the warp shed,

Fig. 5 is a view similar to a part of Fig. 1 showing the firstmodification,

Fig. 6 is a front elevation looking in the direction of arrow 6, Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged horizontal view on line 7-7, Fig. 6, through theroll and first modification wherein the slot of the roll is straight,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detailed horizontal section on line 8-8 showingthe manner in which the slot for the roll can be adjusted both angularlyand with respect to the distance from the fabric being woven,

Fig. 9 is an enlarged vertical section on line 99, Fig. 5,

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing a center line of a slot madeaccording to the second modification of the invention,

Fig. 11 is similar to Fig. 10 but shows a center line of another slotmade according to the third modification, and

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 10 which shows the center line of aslot made according to the fourth modification.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, there are shown two harness frames 1and 2 reciprocable vertically in guides 3 and 4 by mechanism not shownbut similar to that employed for instance in my prior Patent No.2,625,959. A reed shaft 5 is rotatable in right and left-hand bearings 6and 7 respectively and is driven by a chain 8 trained over a sprocketwheel 9 secured to shaft 5. The reed shaft has secured thereto a numberof rotary reed dents 10 between which extend the warp threads W. Theshaft 5 and reed dents make a rotation for every other Weft layingoperation of the loom and the reed, if desired, may be made similar tothat shown in the aforesaid patent. The bearings 6 and 7 are on asupport 11 which is mounted in fixed relation with respect to the guides3 and 4.

A second support 15 fixed with respect to support 11 has mounted forrotation therein a shaft 16 to which is secured a sprocket 17 of halfthe size of sprocket 9 meshing with chain 8 so that shaft 16 will rotateonce for each weft inserting operation of the loom.

The fabric F is led forwardly from the point of weaving to a guide roll18 and over a takeup roll 19 which may be driven in any desired manner.

The support 15 has mounted for rotation therein a vertical shaft 20shown in Fig. 3, this shaft being operatively connected by appropriategearing as equal bevel gears, not shown herein, to shaft 16. The shaft20 has a head 21 secured in adjusted angular position thereon by meansof a screw 22 which passes across a narrow slot 23 in the head and istapped into one part of the head to clamp the latter to shaft 20. Theupper part of the head is provided with an undercut slot 24 whichreceives the lower enlarged end 25 of a stud 26 which is drawn upwardlyby a nut 27 so that the stud can be held tightly to the head in adjustedposition along the slot 24. The latter is open at both ends as indicatedin Fig. 3 for a purpose to be set forth hereinafter.

A bushing 30 surrounds the stud and is engaged tightly by the under sideof the nut 27. A bearing sleeve 31 surrounds the bushing and has a closefit with a bearing 32 on a needle carrier 33. The bushing 30 preventsthe nut 27 when tightened from binding the parts 31 and 32, and enablesthe nut and lower part of the bushing to limit vertical motion of theseparts.

The carrier 33 has a rearwardly extending arm 35 to which is secured aneedle 36 the right-hand end of which as viewed in Fig. 1 is bentforwardly and secured to arm 35 by screws 37. The left-hand end of theloom 36 is provided with a weft eye B through which the weft thread WTextends. The thread WT is drawn from a stationary outside supply of weftnot shown herein and Patented Sept. 1, 1959 after passing through theeye E extends to the fabric previously woven.

The carrier is provided with a second arm 40 which extends forwardly andhas a pivotal connection designated generally at 4 1 with a link 4-2ro'ckable about a fixed'stud 43 extending through arms 44 andAS of anupright stand 46 secured to the support 15. The. pivotal connectionincludes a stud 47 mounted on the link as indicated in Fig. 2 and abearing 47a on arm 40 through which stud 47 passes.

In the operation of thestructure shown in Fig. 1 the crank actuator pinor stud 26 rotates in a counterclockwise direction as indicated at arrowa. The circular path of the stud is determined by its radial distancefrom the axis of shaft 2 3 and when the parts are as shown in Fig. l theneedle 36 will be displaced at its maximum distance from the fabricbeing woven. When the needle is in this position the harnesses It and 2will be changing the warp from one shed to the next shed and by the timethe stud 26 gets to its rearmost position, A of a turn of shaft 20 afterthe position shown in Fig. l, the needle eye E will be approximately atthe adjacent selvage warp threads. Continued turning of the actuatorwill carry the needle eye through the shed and beyond the far selvage sothat the weft laid by the needle can be caught by a selvage formingneedle SN which may be operated in any convenient manner as for instanceby another actuator designated generally at 49. Still further turning ofthe actuator will move the crank pin 26 to its foremost position whichwill place the eye E near the right-hand selvage as the needle leavesthe warp shed and still further turning will return the needle and thecarrier to. the position shown in Fig. 1. The needle. thus enters thewarp shed in rear position, moves into and out of the shed while movingforwardly, and then moves rearwardly to its starting position.

When the needle carrier is as shown in Fig. 1 the link 42 is preferablydisposed in such manner that a line joining the centers of the fixedaxis 43 and the stud 47 will be substantially perpendicular to thefabric being woven, or parallel to the slot 24 in the actuator. As theneedle moves rearwardly the pivotal connection 41 will swing to the leftand. for this reason have the effect of retarding entry of the needleinto the warp shed. As the needle enters the. shed with the actuatormoving from its rearmost to its leftmost position the link will be movedforwardly so that the pivotal connection 41 will move away from thefabric being woven and this, coupled with the motion of the actuator,will accelerate the motion of the needle. As the actuator moves towardsits foremost position the link will be moved forwardly in an arcuatedirection again toward the fabric and this will produce an acceleratedmotion. As the actuator moves from its foremost to its rightmostposition the link will again move rearwardly and by its arcuate motionwill retard the motion of the needle. From this it will be seen that theneedle has a retarding motion when it is out of the Warp shed, therebygiving the harnesses ample time to change the warp from one shed to thenext, and has an accelerated motion while in the warp shed. Because ofthe retarded motion when the needle is out of the shed the transversethrow of the needle is somewhat less than might otherwise be necessaryto provide time for changing the warp shed.

Another feature of the needle motion is shown diagrammatically in Fig.4, this feature being that the transverse motion of the needle is verymuch greater than its back and forth motion. The bodily movement of thecarrier 33 in a back and forth direction parallel to the warp threadsisdetermined by the diameter of the path of the actuator, but thetransverse motion is determined by the ratio of the distance from thepivotal connection 41 to the shuttle eye E compared to the distance tothe actuator. As shown in the drawings this ratio is about 3:1 so thatthe transverse length of path 5, Fig. 4, is about three times 4 the backand fourth dimension of the path. This ratio, of course, can be variedas desired but it is desirable to have a much less increase in the backand forth motion than in the transverse motion when variations in widthof fabric are provided for in order to avoid conflict with the beat-upmechanism such as the reed dents 10.

In the first modified form shown in Fig. 5 the parts of the mechanismthus far described will be the same except for the control means for thesecond or forwardly extending arm of the carrier. As shown in Fig. 5 thesupport 15 has mounted thereon a member having a foot 51 provided withan open slot 52 through which passes a screw 53 which is tapped into thesupport 15 at 54. By reason of this screw 53 the member 50 can be movedtoward and from the fabric being woven and it can also be adjustedangularly. The upper part of the member 50 is formed with a slot 55, seeFig. 9, which, according to the first modification, is straight and hasover-hanging top sides, 56 and an upwardly opening narrower slot 57.Extending through the slot 57 and into the slot is a stud 60 having anupper reduced end 61 to receive a nut 62 passing through the bearing 47aof the arm 40, or a bearing similar to it. By reason of a shoulder 64'of the stud the latter is thus fixed by nut 62 with respect to the arm4%. An intermediate part 65 of the stud extends down through the slot 57and is of a width or thickness to provide a snug fit with the slot 57.Extending downwardly from the intermediate part 6 5 is another reducedpart 66 having at its lower end a nut 67 which clamps the center part 68of a roller bearing R to the stud. The outer ring 69 of the rollerbearing fits snugly in the slot 55 and by reason of the balls 70 is freeto rotate on the inner part 68 which is fixed with respect to the stud60.

In this first modified form of the invention the slot 55 may be arrangedsubstantially parallel with the fabric being woven as suggested in Fig.5 in which event the roll will move back and forth in a line parallel tothe warp threads as the actuator rotates around its axis. Because of theadjustment shown in Fig. 8,. however, the axis of the slot 55 can bemoved toward or fromthe fabric being woven to accommodate cloths ofdifferent widths and can also be adjusted angularly.

In the other modified forms of the invention. the structure describedwith respect to Figs. 5 to 9, except for the slot, may be the same. InFig. 10, for instance, there is shown diagrammatically the center line 0of a slot as might be provided in the second modification, thismodification showing acurved intermediate part 7 S- and straight alinedend parts 76. In the third modification the center li'ne d of themodified slot has two straightparts 78 joined by a curved part '79,whereas in Fig. 12 which shows the center line 2 for the fourthmodification the greater part- 8?) of the axis of the slot will bestraight but one end of the axis will be curved or deflected to one sideas at 31.

Another feature of the modified forms relates to the ease with which thecarrier member may be removed from the loom. It will be noted that bothends of the slot 2.4 in the head 21 are open and that opposite ends ofthe slot 55 are also open. Similarly slots similar tothose having centerlines 6, d and e shown in Figs. 1042 respectively will also be open atboth ends. When it is desired to remove the carrier the nut 27 is backedoff to release the holding relation between the stud 2d and the head 21,after which the stud can be slid either rearwardly or forwardly out ofthe slot 24 andv at the same time the roll at the bottom of the stud 6thwill move out of one or the other ends of the control slot, for instanceslot 55.

With further reference to the adjustments of the control means includinga slot for a roll on aim 4t it may be noted that bodily movement of themember 5%? towardthe cloth being woven will result in shifting the locusof the needle path indicated in Fig. 4 to the right, a condition whichwould be desirable if a wider fabric is to be woven. It will also benoted that the center line d, Fig. 11, represents a slot which gives amotion to the forward arm 40 closely approximating the character ofmotion given to this arm by the link 42. Angular adjustments of thestraight form of slot 55 may be resorted to when it is desired to effectslight modifications in the accelerated and retarded movements of theeye E compared to these features of the eye movement when the slot 55 isparallel to the fabric or has its axis radial with respect to the axisof the actuating crank pin.

From the foregoing it Will be seen that the invention sets forth asimple form of weft needle operating mechanism adaptable to looms moreparticularly of the narrow ware type. The operating mechanism includes auniformly rotating actuator having a crank pin rotating in a circularpath and effective to move the carrier member 33 in a backwardly andforwardly direction and also in a crosswise direction. The control meansdetermines the path of the forwardly extending arm 40 and cooperateswith the actuator to magnify the crosswise movement of the needlewhereas the back and forth motion of the needle is equal only to thediameter of the circular path through which the crank pin turns. In thepreferred form of the invention the link cooperates with the actuator togive the needle a retarded motion when it is out of the warp shed butgives the needle an accelerated motion while in the shed, the retardedmotion facilitating changing of the warp shed by the harness frames. Itwill further be seen with respect to the modified forms that the forwardarm 40 carries a roll movable in a slot forming part of the member 50and that the latter can be adjusted angularly and also in a directiontoward and from the fabric being woven to give the needle the desiredcharacteristic of the motion.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of theinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what isclaimed is:

1. In weft needle operating mechanism for a narrow ware loom operatingwith an outside weft supply and having warp threads which aremanipulated to form sheds, a crank actuator rotating at uniform speed ina circular path, a needle carrier having a part driven in circular pathby the actuator, an arm on said carrier extending rearwardly from theactuator, a weft needle secured to said arm having a weft eye on the endthereof opposite said arm, a second arm on said carrier extendingforwardly from said actuator, and control means including a link whichswings about a fixed pivot at one end thereof and has a pivotalconnection at the other end thereof with said second arm and determiningthe path of movement of said second arm as said actuator revolvesenabling said carrier to move bodily in a back and forth directionthrough a distance equal substantially to the diameter of said circularpath and causing said eye to move in a transverse direction through adistance determined by the ratio of the distance between said controlmeans and said eye compared to the distance between said control meansand said actuator, said control means and actuator cooperating to causethe weft eye to enter a warp shed once for each rotation of theactuator.

2. The mechanism set forth in claim 1 wherein said fixed pivot for thelink is between said pivotal connec tion and the cloth being woven toenable the needle eye to have an accelerated motion when the needle isin a warp shed and have a retarded motion when the needle is out of theshed.

3. In weft needle operating mechanism for a narrow ware loom operatingwith an outside weft supply and having warp threads which aremanipulated to form sheds, a crank actuator rotating at uniform speed ina circular path, a needle carrier having a part driven in a circularpath by the actuator, an arm on said carrier extending rearwardly fromthe actuator, a weft needle secured to said arm having a weft eye on theend thereof opposite said arm, a second arm on said carrier extendingforwardly from said actuator, and control means including a memberhaving a slot therein and a roll on said second arm moved along saidslot as the actuator revolves and determining the path of movement ofsaid second arm as said actuator revolves enabling said carrier to movebodily in a back and forth direction through a distance equalsubstantially to the diameter of said circular path and causing said eyeto move in a transverse direction through a distance determined by theratio of the distance between said control means and said eye comparedto the distance between said control means and said actuator, saidcontrol means and actuator cooperating to cause the weft eye to enter awarp shed once for each rotation of the actuator.

4. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein said member is adjustableto enable the direction in which said slot extends to be variedangularly with respect to the back and forth motion of said carriercaused by said actuator.

5. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein provision is made foradjusting the member to locate said slot at different distances from thecloth being woven,

6. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein provision is made foradjusting the member to change the angle of said slot relative to thecloth being woven and also change the distance between said slot and thecloth being woven.

7. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein said actuator includes acrank pin member removably secured in a slot in the actuator open atopposite ends thereof and the slot in said member is open at oppositeends thereof to permit removal of the roll therefrom when the crank pinmember is removed from the slot in said actuator.

8. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the slot in said memberextends generally in a back and forth direction substantially parallelto the cloth being woven.

9. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot issubstantially straight.

10. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot hasa curved intermediate part and aligned straight end parts.

11. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot hasfront and back nonparallel straight parts joining a curved intermediatepart.

12. The mechanism set forth in claim 3 wherein the axis of the slot isstraight throughout the greater part of its length but terminates at oneend in a part deflected from said straight part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,797,962 Merrick Mar. 24, 1931 2,013,230 Best Sept. 3, 1935 2,625,959Turner Jan. 20, 1953 2,757,692 Coppa Aug. 7, 1956 2,769,462 Libby Nov.6, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 516,143 Great Britain Dec. 22, 1939

